Tready Numero Uno

Now I am not the biggest fan of treadmills.  A means to an end and a useful tool for consistent pacing.  As a guy who has run 1/2 marathons on them, I can tell you from experience, you really have to have an amazing lulu lemon commercial or the ability to transport yourself to your happy place to get through the hell that is treadmills.  There is no magic playlist that makes this easier... at best it makes it somewhat tolerable.

As well, I sweat.  I make no apologies.  I am a man, and I sweat.  I don't go to the gym to pretend or to pose; I workout.  I have target heart-rates and specific goals and I push myself to achieve those goals.  I cannot fathom talking on the phone or reading a magazine while I do this.... no time... gasping for air.  So while I am running and dripping it is just no fun. And by the way....

Where Am I going with all of this, well.... I am now committed to once a week hopping on the "hamster-wheel" at the "Y" and giving it at least 30 minutes of my time.

So down I went.  And after a 5 minute stretching session, I found a machine and got to it.  However, nothing is truly that easy.  This machine had a plug for your iPod.  I only noticed this after I had been on the machine for a  minute or two, so I stopped it and undid my armband where I keep my iPod and plugged in.  The advantage being that you could see your playlist on the screen and there was a central headphone jack so my headphones would not get in the way.  I plugged in and off I went.

Well.... about a minute later there was a crackle crackle in my headphones and then a shock came out of my headphones and zapped my ear almost causing me to loose my balance and fall to my death.  and Trust me you do not ever want to fall off a treadmill.



So I unplugged and tried again..... 1 minute later.... ZAP!  What the....  Well that was enough.  Then it was unplug the iPod and re-attach the headphones and weave them though my shirt.

Sigh.. so basically it took me 15 minutes to start my 30 minute run.

I think I am going to allow my self 30 minutes and whatever I run in that time is what I run.  Today, I just did a 5K and called it quits. The treadmill I was using had a little visual of a track and it was counting .25 of a mile for each lap and I ran 13 laps or 3.23 miles (5K) in 28:05.  That is an average speed of 6.9 Miles and Hour and 8:41 average minute miles. I set the speed at 6.7 for the first mile and then moved it up to 7.0 for the remainder.  I checked my HR at mile 2 and it was 141.